An exclusive excerpt from the best selling novel, Dark Prophet
by, K.N. Lee
Koa entered her cottage and was welcomed by an eerie quiet. She only
had a few hours before she needed to meet Halston at the Gate, and after a
night with Lindley, she wanted to check on her former pet, Ian, and hoped to
see her mother as well. Jax returned to the church the night before after Koa’s
abrupt departure. She wondered just how awkward things would be when she
returned. It almost didn’t matter.
Halston was safe. That’s all that mattered.
Now, seeing if Ian and her mother were doing all right would ease her mind
further.
The drapes were still closed and everything
was still.
All she heard was the ticking of the
grandfather clock at the end of the corridor right off the stairwell landing.
She stepped inside and her heels clicked along the stone floor.
Home. She had missed it. Still, it would never
replace her father’s manor, where she had spent most of her life. Koa had lived
in many different places: South Korea, America, England, and the Netherworld,
but she missed France the most. Her memories there were all of good times.
Koa felt a shudder run up her spine as she
thought back to her time in the Netherworld. There was no doubt that the
Netherworld was the worst of all the places that she’d lived. She didn’t blame
Halston for erasing her memories of that time. But now, they were all back, and
she could not escape them.
Koa smelled something.
A familiar scent. Her eyes scanned the room. A
terrible sense of fear and trouble filled her. Someone had been there, someone
she never wanted to see again. And then. Koa remembered where she had smelled
that scent before and was taken back to memories she wished she could forget.
There were hundreds of bedrooms; each with its
own private bathroom. Dozens of kitchens. Nine dining halls. Seven grand
ballrooms. Five libraries; one for each wing, and another massive one for the
guests.
The Netherworld was Koa’s prison, the Lyrinian
palace her cell, and yet, she found a way to make it bearable. As she sat on
the steps watching the hordes of creatures pass her by, Evina played with her
hair.
Koa sighed as the vampire princess finished
the long braid she made with Koa’s black hair.
“Done.”
Koa pulled the braid over her shoulder and
looked at it. She’d never had her hair braided before. She smiled at her
friend.
“Thank you,” Koa said.
Evina shrugged. “No problem. You almost look
like a Netherworlder now.” Evina traced something on Koa’s face. Her blue eyes
narrowed as she examined Koa.
Koa chewed her lip, feeling odd under Evina’s
gaze. She couldn’t help it. There was just something in the Netherworld
vampire’s eyes that made her feel exposed and uncomfortable. Even her father’s
eyes made her feel like hiding sometimes.
She thought of Jax. Her lips curled into a
smile. Whenever he looked at her, she would blush, but Koa never turned away.
She hid a grin from Evina. She looked forward to sneaking away with him again.
It was all she had to look forward to.
Evina nodded. “Yes, I can see it now.” She
kept tracing shapes onto Koa’s face. “You just need a few tattoos, right across
your cheekbones.”
Koa made a face. “Never.”
Evina tilted her head. “Come on. Give it a
shot. It will look amazing.”
Koa shook her head as she looked at all of the
tattoos that Evina had on her neck and at the corners of her eyes. They may
have looked intriguing and beautiful on the vampire princess but Koa was
certain that she’d look like a clown with tattoos on her face.
She turned up her nose. “Like I said… never.”
Evina pushed her shoulder and shrugged. “Suit
yourself, but the people will never accept you unless you start to act and look
like us.”
“That’s
fine with me.”
Evina
grinned. “Oh come on. We should start making sketches. I know just the artist.”
Koa
sighed and watched Evina pull a silver pen out of her purse and clicked it
twice. The sound of tiny bells ringing made a few of her lady’s maids and
escorts glance over from their stations with vague interest, but once they saw
what Evina was doing, they returned to looking ahead with expressionless faces.
Light
collected around the tip of the pen and stretched outwards until hundreds of
little blue dots seeped into the air. The dots combined and slowly transformed
into identifiable shapes.
Evina
frowned at the pen, shook it so vigorously that her black curls bounced around
her face, and clicked it again. “This dammed thing needs to be looked at. It’s
awfully slow,” she complained under her breath. “Jax’s pen never does this.”
Koa’s
mouth parted in wonder as the image of a pale male face floated across the air.
His brows were too big and bushy for his skinny face, but they furrowed as he
looked back at her.
It
was as if the ghostly artist could actually see her. She twisted her mouth.
No. It’s not possible,
she thought. Apparently anything was possible in the Netherworld. Koa’s cheeks
paled as the artist drew strange characters onto a piece of parchment. Her face
started to appear on that very parchment, with an intricate tattoo around her
left eye.
Such
an anomaly intrigued Koa. The image was outlined in silver and clung to the air
like a ghost. It couldn’t be real, and yet he seemed to see her, or knew her
face well enough to draw it.
Koa
rubbed her face. She didn’t want to admit that the tattoo actually looked
interesting. Instead, she frowned at Evina. “I’m never getting a stupid tattoo
on my face.” She gasped as the image floated through the air and hovered before
her face.
The
artist seemed to sneer at her but disappeared the moment Evina clicked her pen
and tucked in back into her silver side purse. With the interesting images
gone, Koa went back to looking out into the crowds of the citadel, just as she had been doing all
day.
“Come
on, Koa. You can only reject your role as Netherworld royalty for so long.
You’ll have to get on eventually.” Evina didn’t seem to notice that Koa was
intentionally ignoring her. “Perhaps something red. As I recall, it looked
quite nice on you—your wedding dress.”
Koa
cringed; she wanted to forget her wedding day.
Evina spread her arms out towards the passing
creatures. “Right now you look human.” She gave Koa a sidelong glance. “And
that’s the last thing you want to look like in the midst of creatures that
would love to take a bite out of you.”
Koa gulped and looked down the narrow
staircase at the crowded citadel. She was thankful that the tall gates at the
bottom of the staircase separated her from the vampires, War-Breeders, Syths
and Scayors. She’d been in the Netherworld for four years, and the citizens
still frightened her.
“Come on,” Evina coaxed. “Just one tattoo.
Father will be pleased. Your sixteenth birthday approaches and...”
Koa felt a chill. She shot Evina a look that
made Evina purse her lips and look away. Koa couldn’t hide the hurt in her
eyes. “Don’t say it.”
Evina covered Koa’s hand with her own. She
spoke softly. “Forgive me. I nearly forgot.”
Koa stared at her, trying not to let the tears
fall from her eyes. Evina lowered her head. Her voice came out cracked.
“I truly am sorry, Koa. I look at you like the
little sister I never had. Sometimes I pretend that you are just that, and not
my father’s third wife.”
As if on cue, Lera, second wife to King
Greggan stepped between them. The skirt of her red gown brushed across Koa’s
face. Koa pursed her lips and glared up at the vampire queen.
“Watch where you’re going,” Koa warned.
Lera grinned, showing off her fangs. She knelt
down to Koa’s face. Grabbing her by her chin.
Koa tensed. She wanted to push that woman down
the stairs. The smell of rosemary was strong. Lera seemed to bathe in it each
day, for it followed her and lingered even when she left a room.
“Or what, little bug?” Her voice came out like
a purr. Her violet eyes were full of hate despite her smug grin.
Koa didn’t know what to say. What could she
do?
Lera laughed lightly then. Koa was afraid of
her. She’d seen Lera do things that she couldn’t explain. Netherworld vampires
have odd powers.
Evina, Jax, Greggan, Lera, and Lysett all had
a certain skill for which they were known in the kingdom, and Koa still wasn’t
used to living amongst a bunch of beings that would be considered
superheroes—or super villains—back in the human world.
Lera’s violet eyes bore into Koa’s. Koa pulled
her head back and held her breath, afraid of what the vampire might do. She’d
seen Lera chain a servant to the floor once, and had her guests strike the poor
young vampire girl with fire whips.
“You walk around here like you’re better than
us.” Lera sneered at her. “But you are not. You are a bug beneath my boot, and
I will squish the life out of you if you get in my way. I am King Greggan’s
favorite, and I will remain that way. Do you understand?”
Koa couldn’t help herself. Even though she was
afraid, she sucked her teeth and made a face at Lera. “You think I want him?”
Lera tightened her grip on Koa’s chin and Koa
snatched her face away, flailing the back of her hand at Lera’s face, except
Lera caught the blow with one hand and Koa’s throat in the other. She squeezed.
The squad of Syths stepped forward.
Evina was on her feet, with one hand on Lera’s
shoulder.
Lera hissed in Koa’s face. Koa struggled to
breathe.
The Syths bowed. “With respect, Queen Lera. We
have orders to not let anyone harm the Queen Koa, not even you. Forgive us.”
Lera ignored them, but somehow Evina’s hand on
her shoulder made her pause.
“You’d better listen and take your hands off
of her,” Evina ordered. Koa was so surprised by the authority in the princess’
voice, even she shot a look at her, despite being unable to breathe.
Lera looked from Evina’s tattooed hand back to
Koa’s face. “Remember my words, little
bug. Either way, he will kill you.” Her voice lowered to an almost
inaudible whisper. “But if, for some reason, he doesn’t, I will.”
Lera released Koa, shrugged Evina’s hand off
her shoulder, and pulled a black disc from her belt. She opened her disc. Like
a fan, the electronic device opened and hovered before her. She hopped onto it
and with one last glare, flew away.
The smell of rosemary wafted into Koa’s
nostrils and as she was brought back to the present, she knew: Lera was not
dead.
She had been there. In her home.
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